1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus. In particular, the invention relates to an information processing apparatus capable of inserting and removing an IC card such as a SIM card and USIM card.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a cellular phone functioning as an information processing apparatus has been mounted with not only a communication function simply based on a voice talk but also various functions including an address book function, a camera function, a mail function through a network such as a base station or the Internet, and a browser function enabling a browsing of a Web page.
Also, some users have a desire to use the same accustomed cellular phone even in a case of traveling or having a business trip to a foreign country. In view of the above, a system called “roaming” has been proposed in which a carrier provides a service by contracting with another carrier outside its service area. In order to realize this system, a subscriber identification card called “SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card” or “USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) card” is used.
These cards have a built-in IC chip where IDs with respect to a carrier under contract and a telephone number. After such a card is removed from the original cellular phone, by inserting the card into a dedicated slot provided to a cellular phone, it is possible to receive incoming calls with the same telephone number and use individual information such as a telephone directory as it is.
Incidentally, the dedicated slot for inserting and removing the SIM card or the USIM card is generally provided in the vicinity of a battery pack. However, these cards contain various pieces of individual information, and it is therefore necessary to prevent unintentional falling-off of the inserted card at the time of inserting the battery pack.
In view of the above, as a technology related to falling-off prevention of the SIM card or the USIM card, a technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-159638 is known.
However, in recent years, users have demanded more compact and thinner cellular phones. Thus, adopting a structure for simply preventing the falling-off of the SIM card or the USIM card at the time of inserting the battery pack is not sufficient enough, and to be applied to the thinner cellular phone, it is necessary to employ such a structure of a stopper (locking member) for locking the SIM card or the USIM card that does not affect the thickness of a main body of the cellular phone main body. Such a problem cannot however be solved by the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-159638.